Elevator-shaft sliding-door mechanism.



A. 1. ROSENTRETER.

ELEVATOR SHAFT SLIDING DOOR MECHANISM.-

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13. I916.

1 2%,%%., Patented Oct. 30,1917.

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' 351 elite/cum i f A 1 A; J. ROSENTRETER.

ELEVATOR SHAFT SLiDlNG DOOR MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 33. EH6. 1,244,899 Patented Oct. 30,1917.

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ew ereeee e sm te-e003 MEQHANISM- eeeee- Specif cation of Letters Batent.

Fete ted Wt 30, 917- Application filed January 13, 1916. Serial No. 71,851.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT J. RQSENTRE- ran, a citizen ofthe United Sta es, ll a resident of Boonton, in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey, have inventedCertain new and'useful Improvements. in Elevator-Shaft Sliding-Door Mechanisms, O which the following is a specification.

The invention pertains more oar ti :ularly, though not in every instance exclusively, to variable-speed door-operating mechanisms for sliding doors of the character employed at the diflerent floors of buildings for guarding the entrance to the eleva tor shaft or shafts and permitting, when ope e a cess o th ele ator a 01' ca e when arrested at the several floors of the building. These sliding doors are of varion ype there b ng i s me ns ces a stationary door or panel imitating a door w th on liding o o be move y th operator on the car or hoist and in other instances such panel withtwo sliding doors arranged to telescope one on the other and to be operated by the hand of the elevator attendant and in still other instances the said panel representing a door is in fact a door and hinged so that it may be opened and fully expose the car, this latter class usually being employed in connection with elevator carsdesigned to carry freightand in which use it is desirable that a wide opening be provided for the admission of desks and the like to the elevator car.

The main features of my invention are intended for use in connection with the usual imitation stationary or hinged door and two or more sliding doors having a variable speed, although a portion of my invention is applicable to such imitation stationary or hinged door with onesliding door.

My invention will preferably be employed in connection or cooperation with means for the convenient manual opening and automatic closing of the sliding door or doors, although Without change said invention may be employed in connection with doors to be manually opened and closed.

One of the pm es of my invention is to proride door closing mechanism and preferably door checking and closing meehanism which may he pplied t9 sli ng 199}? 1 ready installed and to new doors without regard, in general instances, to the construetion of thebuilding or that portion thereof adjacent to the. elevatorshaft. A further purpose of the inve tion is to p o ide cient m chan m or. the opera ion of. a i ble speed slidi g doors, commonly called twqspe d doors,and to dispen wi h th usual complex gea echanism by which the variable speed for. th deor's eseeured I present the preferred mechanism embodying my invention in s app a en applied to. two vari ble speed ng door employed in connection with an imitation pan or do r, wh ch is ometi s nge at t 'outeizedge o to b occasio a ly sed as a door. I

My inven -i0 1 comprises a pair of toggle leiers in the form of two bars "of substantially equal length pivoted together at their adj ae n ends a d. at the t r e d be ng pivot-al y c n ected w t t e o e s d n door and the door jamb of the imitation door or pan nd n of Sa levers b ng pr vided with a. bracket'engaging a guiding bra et f stened to he k tile 0f the nner liding'deor- I also pre er yvsee re adjacent to the front stile of the outer or primary sl ng o means f h manu operation of the toggle levers, combined with mean for automatic lly clos ng the doors a d means e chec ng th c o ing ac ion o the door o hat 1 th l d ng moyement of the doors to closed position, the said doors, more particularly near the end of such movement, shall be properly checked so as to close without creating undue noise. The toggle levers at their adjoining ends are s0. Connected that when the lerers are moved upwardly at such ends, they may be readily separated from each other and also restored to their operative relation to each other. The connection of the inner toggle lever with the guiding bracket on the inner sliding door is such that when said lever is moved to its lowest position it may be detached from said bracket and also, when desired, readily restored thereto. The construction as a whole is one which may be readily ,applied'to'sliding doors of the two-speed variety and at t me tim be capabl of ready d t chmen from the inner sl ding ideo being disjointed at the adjoining ends of the wardly to expose the car, it will be found convenient to disjoint the toggle levers and separate the outer lever from the inner sl ding door so that the mechanism of my 1nvention may not interfere with the doors being thus opened.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a pair of twospeed sliding doors and an imitation or panel doorfor an elevator shaft, equipped with the mechanism. of my invention, this figure showing the side of the doors which faces the elevator shaft;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the same, on a larger scale, taken on the dotted line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation on a still larger scale and partly broken away of a door operating mechanism and a portion of the innersliding door, the mechanism in this instance being shown in the position it assumes-on the opening of the sliding doors;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through a portion of the door operating mechanism taken on the dotted line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an inner face view of a portion of the inner toggle lever with the bracket secured thereto which, in use, engages the guiding bracket fastened on the back stile of the inner sliding door, and V Fig. 6 is a. detached elevation of the adjoining ends of the toggle levers, said ends being shown as separated from each other and in position ready to be assembled. In the drawings, 10 designates the outer sliding door, 11 the inner sliding door and 12 a stationary imitation door or panel behind which in the usual course of practice the elevator operator stands, with his right hand near the starting and stopping devices of the elevator. The doors 10, 11, 12 are of usual type, and the door 12 should correspond in appearance with the doors 10, 11, but is stationary under usual conditions, although sometimes hinged at its right hand edge, looking at Fig. 1, so that it may be opened and expose the full width of the elevator car to receive freight.

I apply to the doors a pair of toggle levers 13, 14 and a liquid checking cylinder 15 containing a door closing spring whereby the sliding doors are,when released, caused to move to their closed position and to do this with a minimum amount of noise. The checking cylinder 15 has been made, with menses other features, the subject of Letters Patent No. 1,192,000 granted to me July 25, 1916, and hence is not separately claimed herein, nor is the present application limited to the checking cylinder 15, nor to the use therein of a spring for effecting the closing of the doors. The right hand end of the toggle lever 14 is pivotally secured to a bracket 16 which is fastened to the jamb 17, and the inner end of said lever is pivotally connected with the inner end of the lever 13 whose outer end is fastened rigidly to a casting or frame 18 which is pivotally secured, at 19, to the door 10 and is provided with a handle 20 by which said casting or frame may be turned upwardly to start the levers 13, 14 at their adjacent ends on their up ward movement when it is desired to open the doors 10, 11. is also pivotally connected with the piston rod of the checking cylinder 15, and the spring in said cylinder is compressed during the opening of said doors, and then exerts its force when the doors are released to move the same to their closed position, as

described in detail in my aforesaid application.

The means for pivotally connecting the.

adjoining ends of the levers 13, 14 together are more clearly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6 in which it will be seen that the end edge of the lever 13 is on the arc of a circle, as at 21, and that said lever adjacent to its end is formed at one side with a slot 22 having a rounded inner end and that the lever 13 at its opposite side and in near relation to the slot 22 is formed with a slot 23, which stands inwardly at an angle to the edge of the lever, the inclination being in a direction from the inner end of the lever. The formation of the slots 22, 23 creates what may be termed a hook member 24 on the inner end of the lever 13. The inner end of the lever 14 has secured on one face adjacent studs 25, 26, the stud 25 beingof substantial diameter and having a flat head 27. The stud 26 is closely adjacent to the edge of the head 27 on the stud 25 and is a plain round stud or pin. In assembling the adjacent inner ends of the levers 13, 14, the levers are turned upwardly, as indicated in Fig. 6, and the hook portion 24 of the lever 13 is inserted between the studs 25, 26 and behind the head 2?, the body of the stud 25 being received within the slot 22 of the lever 13. The levers 13, 14 may be thus brought together when in nearly a vertical position, and thereupon when said levers are turned to carry their body portions outwardly in a direction from each other, the

hook 24 turns upon the stud 25 and finally the stud 26 enters the slot 23 of the lever 13, this taking place when the two levers reach about the same horizontal plane, as shown in Fig, 1. When the levers 13, 14 are in The frame or casting 18 lessees substantially a horizontal position, the stud 26 by engaging the wall of the slot 23 prevents said levers fromturning downwardly at their adjoining ends. The head 27 on the stud 25 at all times prevents any lateral displacement of the adjoining ends of the levers 13, 14, and the proximity of the stud 26 to the edge of the head 27 prevents any separation of the said ends of said levers, except when the levers are in nearly in edge to edge relation or in the position they occupy when folded upwardly to about their limit of movement. Whenever it is desired to separate the levers 13, 14, this may be accomplished by first folding the levers to about their extreme upper position and then withdrawing the hook 24 from between the studs 25, 26. The hook 24 has its outer edge on the arc of a circle, and hence said hook does not at all interfere with the folding and unfolding movements of the levers 13, 14 in their natural operation, and the end of the hook 24 is pointed so that it may be readily introduced between and withdrawn from between the studs 25, 26 in the folded condition of the levers 13, 14. The spring in the checking cylinder 15 always exerts its force in a direction tending to turn the lever 13 downwardly at its inner end, and this action of the spring serves to bind the hook upon the stud 25. The construction at the inner or adjoining ends of the levers 13, 14 is particularly desirable in view of the ease with which said levers may, by rea son thereof, be connected together and separated from each other, all cutting of rivets and the like being wholly avoided and the construction being one of reliability and durability. The said construction of the adjoining ends of the levers 13, 14 is particularly advantageous in the employment of the two sliding doors 10, 11 and door 12, since it admits of the separation of said levers whenever it may be desired to manipulate the'doors 10, 11 independently of the levers 13, 14.

Upon the back stile of the inner sliding door 11 is rigidly secured a bracket or frame 23 presenting a front plate 29 parallel with the face of said stileQandsaid plate 29 formed with a slot 30 whose upper portion vertical, as at 31, and which slot thence diverges, as at 32, and thence merges into the vertical portion 33 at whose lower end is an enlargement or opening 34. The upper portion 31 of the slot 30 afiords vertical parallel edges and the diverging portion 32 of said slot affords downwardly and outwardly inclined cam edges leading from the lower slot portion 33 to the slot portion 31.

The bracket or member 28 is engaged by and cooperates with an arm 35 carried by the lever 14 in securing the proper speed of the door 11 on its opening and-closing movements with relation to the speed of the door 10. The arm 35 carries at its upper end a'grooved wheel 36, more clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and said arm 35 at its lower portions is secured between flanges 37 of a bracket 38 which is secured by set screws 39 to thellever 14. The arm 35 is secured to the upper portion of the bracket 38 and between the flanges 37 thereof by means of set screws. or bolts 40 which pass through apertures in the arm 35 and through a slot 41 formed in said bracket. The slot 41 and bolts 40 admit of the vertical adjustment of the arm on the bracket 38 to meet the varying conditions or irregularities that may be met with in doors to which the invention is to be applied. The bolts or set screws 39 pass through apertures in the lever 14 and through slots 42 in the lower portion of the bracket 38 and said bolts and slots admit of the adjustment of said bracket 38 along the lever 14 in accordance with such conditions as may render such adjustment requisite or desirable.

The opening 34 at the lower end of the slot in the bracket 28 is of sufficient size to admit the inner half of the grooved wheel 36, so that the groove of said wheel may, as shown in Fig. 4, engage the opposite edges of the slot 30 above said lower enlarged portion In assembling the mechanism the lever 14 may be secured to the jamb 17 and then have its roller 36 inserted through the opening 34 of the bracket 28, and then by moving said lever upwardly at its free end the roller 36 will travel up wardly along the slot 30. After the lever 14 has been turned upwardly to a suiiicient extent, the lever 13 may be likewise turned upwardly on the partial opening of the door 10 and engaged at its upper end with the upper end portions or" the lever 14 in the manner hereinbefore described, and thereupon when the sliding doors are moved to closed position, the levers 13, 14 will ex; tend along a substantially horizontal line, although slightly out of center, so as to aid in looking them in closed position, and during their movement to their substantially horizontal position, the levers and particularly the lever 14 causes the roller 36 to ride downwardly along the slot 30 of the bracket 28 and pass into the inclined portion 32 of said slot, or to the position illustrated in Fig. 1, the roller 36 being arrested above the enlarged portion 34 of said slot 30.

Now when it is desired to open the doors 10, 11, the operator will by means of the handle 20 or otherwise exert a pressure causing the adjoining inner ends of the levers 13, 14 to move upwardly, in a well known manner, and this pressure being continued, the roller 36 will ride up the inclined edges of the portion 32 of the slot 30 and then enter the upper vertical portion 31 of the slot and during its movements will, due to the movement of the lever 14, force the door 11 to its open position. The adjustment of the parts is such that the door 11 will move much. more slowly than the door 10, with the result that the door 10 by having a more rapid movement than the door 11 will pass into substantial parallelism with the door 11 at the time both doors attain their open position. The doors 10, 11 travel at a different rate of speed and the arm 35 carrying the roller 36 efiects the movement, from the lever 1 of the inner door 11, while the movement of the outer door 10 is initiated by the operator on the car and through the levers 13, 1%, arm roller 36 and bracket 28 efiects the movement of the door 11. The mechanism presented permits the door 11 to have a slower movement than the door 10, and hence during both the opening and closing of the doors, the doors have a variable speed, the door 10 always moving more rapidly than the door 11, so that on the opening movement of the doors, the door 10 will catch up with the door 11 about the time of the end of the movement of such door and that the door 10 will, during the closing of the doors, reach its closed position at about the time the door 11, traveling a shorter distance reaches its closed position. The inclined portion 32 of the slot 30 is provided to permit the starting of the opening movement of the doors to be performed with the minimum efiort on the part of the operator, and said portion 32 more particularly performs the duty of permit ting the door 10 to gain an initial advance in opening movement over the door 11 so as to avoid a gap being formed between the adj acent vertical edges of the doors 10, ll during the first portion of the opening movement of the doors. In the absence of the inclined portion 32 of the slot 50 the initial movement of the door 10 is not sulficiently rapid to prevent the door 11 from advancing from it, thus for a short period leaving a space or gap between the doors,

which space or gap becomes closed during the further opening movement of the doors, but when said portion 32 is present the door 10 is caused to have such advance initial starting movement toward its open position that the door 11 never separates from it.

At any time it may be desired to manipulate the doors 10, 11 independently of the lever arms 13, 1%, as, for instance, when it may be desired to allow said doors to stand in their open position free from action of the spring in the checking cylinder 15, said doors may be moved to their open position, folding the lever arms 13, 1a upwardly, and said lever arms may then be detached from each other at their adjoining ends in the manner hereinbefore described,'and thereupon when the lever arm 14: is permitted to move to its lowest position,the wheel 36 menses may be withdrawn from the opening 34: of the bracket 28, and under this condition the levers 13, l-l will'hang idly and the doors 10, 11 may remain stationary, or unrestrained, in an open position. 1

My invention resides more particularly in the means provided for imparting variable speed to the doors 10, 11 during the opening and closing of the same, these means comprising the bracket 28 and arm 35 carried by the lever 14: and provided with a roller 36. The means I provide for securing the variaable speed to the doors 10, 11 dispenses with the more or less complex gearing at present employed above the doors to attain that result, and in addition the means invented by me for attaining the variable speed is capable of adjustment to meet the conditions of the doors and provides for the ready application and adjustment of the toggle levers 13, 14:. My invention further resides in the novel construction of the adjoining ends of the levers l3, l l hereinbefore pointed out and in the general features hereinbefore described as applicable to sliding doors.

The invention is not limited to details of form or construction further than the appended claims may require, since it is obvious that such details may be varied without at all departing from my invention.

ll hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

1. In combination, cooperating sliding doors, and means for the simultaneous opening and closing of said doors at a variable speed comprising toggle levers pivotally connected at one end to the outer sliding door and at the other end to a fixed part, and means movably engaging the inner of said levers with the inner door for moving the same therefrom during the movement of and at a slower speed than the outer door and said means comprising an arm on said inner lever and a slotted frame on said inner door engaging the outer end of said arm, and said arm having a grooved roller engaging said slot and said slot having at its lower portion an inclined section along which said roller moves at the early portion of the opening movement of said doors.

2. In combination, cooperating sliding doors, and means for the simultaneous opening and closing of said doors at a variable speed comprising toggle levers pivotally connected at one end to the outer sliding door and at the other end to a fixed part, and means movably engaging the inner of said levers with the inner door for moving the same therefrom during the movement of and at a slower speed than the outer door and said means comprisingan arm on said inner lever and a. slotted frame on said inner door engaging the outer end of said arm, and said arm having a grooved roller engaging said slot and said slot having a straight upper portion and an inclined portion and an opening to admit said roller to the slot.

3. In combination, cooperating sliding doors, and means for the simultaneous opening and closing of said doors at a variable speed comprising toggle levers pivotally connected at one end to the outer sliding door and at the other end to a fixed part, and means movably engaging the inner of said levers with the inner door for moving the same therefrom during the movement of and at a slower speed than the outer door and said means comprising a bracket adjustably secured on said inner lever, an arm adjustably secured on said bracket and a slotted frame on said inner door engaging the outer end of said arm.

a. In combination, cooperating sliding doors, and means for the simultaneous opening and closing of said doors at a variable speed comprising toggle levers pivotally connected at one end to the outer sliding door and at the other end to a fixed part, and means engaging one of said levers with the inner door for moving the same therefrom during the movement of and at a slower speed than the outer door, said toggle levers at their adjoining ends being detachably connected together, one of said levers having on the face of its end a headed stud and an auxiliary stud adjacent thereto, and the end of the other lever being formed with a curved outer edge, a slot in one side to pass upon the body of said headed stud and behind the head thereof and in its opposite side a slot to receive the said auxiliary stud when said levers move to horizontal position.

5. In combination, a sliding elevator-shaft door to be opened from the car and having operating mechanism comprising toggle levers pivotally connected together and at one end pivotally connected to the sliding door and at the other end to an abutment, said toggle levers at their adjoining ends being detachably connected together, one of said levers having on the face of its end a headed stud and an auxiliary stud adjacent thereto, and the end of the other lever being formed with a curved outer edge, a slot in one side to pass upon the body of said headed stud and behind the head thereof and in its opposite side a slot to receive the said auxiliarv stud when said levers move to horizontal position.

Signed at Aurora in the county of Kane and State of Illinois this 4th day of January A. D. 1916.

ALBERT J. ROSENTRETER,

Witnesses:

FRANK E. HU'roHINS, FREDERICK A. SUTrEnN.

topics of this patent may be. obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

